No significant progress in PHL on human rights as media killings surge – HRW

By MARK MERUEÑAS, GMA News

Published January 23, 2014 2:18am

(Updated 2:44 p.m.) The Aquino administration has failed to make any "significant progress" last year to address impunity, even as 12 media practitioners were killed in 2013, according to a 667-page annual report by international group Human Rights Watch.

HRW reviewed human rights practices in more than 90 countries for 2013.

In its report on the human rights situation in the Philippines, the HRW acknowledged among others the enactment of Republic Act No. 10361, which protects the rights of 1.9 million domestic workers.

Meanwhile, some 1.5 million overseas Filipino workers are expected to get protection when the Philippines ratified last year the International Labor Organization’s Domestic Workers Convention No. 189.

"The Aquino administration, however, has not made significant progress on its pledge to expedite the investigation and prosecution [of] extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances, among other serious violations of human rights," the HRW said.

According to the group, 12 journalists were killed in 2013, bringing the total number of members of the media killed to 26 since President Benigno Aquino III assumed office in June 2010.

“The body count of Filipino journalists speaks volumes for the wide gap between the Aquino government’s rhetoric in addressing rights problems and the reality on the ground,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia HRW director.

Police have arrested suspects in only six of the 26 cases of media killings. Of these cases, the government has only secured convictions in two cases only, the HRW said.

These two cases involved the killings of Palawan-based radio commentator and environmentalist Gerardo "Gerry" Ortega on January 24, 2011, and journalist Rowell Endrinal on February 11, 2004. Still, in those two cases, the masterminds remained at large, the group added.

“The Aquino administration has said all the right things about ending abuses in the Philippines, but what’s missing is the political will to translate those promises into action,” Kine said.

Palace disagrees

Malacañang, however, said the Aquino administration has made several efforts to address impunity in the country.

"Ang direktiba po sa [government agencies] ay pag-ibayuhin iyong pagsisiyasat at paghahanap sa mga gumawa ng mga krimeng ito, dahil hindi naman po natin mapapahintulutan iyong paggawa ng karahasan laban sa mga journalists, at laban sa mga nagtatrabaho bilang mga peryodista and in the exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of the press," Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio "Sonny" Coloma Jr. said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Among the steps they have taken, he said, are the changes in the rules of court which will hasten litigation.

He said the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies have also committed to arrest those responsible for media killings.

Coloma added that President Benigno Aquino III has also issued a directive to authorities to address the proliferation of loose firearms in the country.

"Nahagi ito doon sa continuing efforts to stem the tide of violence against journalists and against persons in general," he said.

HRW cites govt clash with MNLF, Maguindanao massacre

The rights group also said the September 2013 armed clash between government forces and members of the Moro National Liberation Front had resulted in violations of international law by both sides, including the use of human shields by rebels.

The group also claimed speaking with detainees in government custody, including children, who said they were either tortured or ill-treated while being held.

The group also observed that killings by “death squads” in urban centers including Metro Manila, Davao City, and Zamboanga City remained a "serious problem" in 2013.

"While there has been a notable decline in extrajudicial killings under the Aquino administration, they remain a serious problem and rarely result in a prosecution," the HRW said.

The report also highlighted the "growing impatience" of families of victims of the November 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre over the four-year murder trial.

HRW, however, acknowledged that the Aquino administration still made progress in "one of the country's most emblematic cases of impunity"—the surrender in October of Army Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr, a prime suspect in the enforced disappearance of political activist Jonas Burgos in 2007.

While also lauding the creation of a so-called "superbody" to expedite the investigation of extralegal killings, the HRW claimed that the body has remained inactive during much of 2013.

The group also mentioned the high court's suspension of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act, as well as the territorial rift between China and the Philippines over disputed territory in the South China Sea. — With a report from Kimberly Jane Tan/ELR/KG, GMA News

Tags: humanrightswatch, mediakillings, journalistkillings